


There's Always An Aftermath

by Winterling42



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Gen, OR IS IT??, canon using the Purifying Fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7950805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>absolutely <i>adored</i> this week's Magic story, <a href="http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/homesick-2016-08-29">Homesick</a>! My only problem was that Gideon didn't know about Chandra's past. Or did he? *eyebrow waggle* I have taken some liberties with dialogue. And of course the excessive navel-gazing is all my fault. But other than that, this should conform to canon!</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's Always An Aftermath

“I didn’t even know she was from Kaladesh…” But she never had talked about her home to him, not really. He thought he’d understood that; he knew what made it so painful for her. But to hear it laid out in such terms. With such fastidious movements – a sleeve adjustment, a careful straightening of the silverware. It made his blood run hot.

“I don’t know what her parents did. I don’t much care, either.” Gideon remembered the first thing she’d told him, when he tried to really _talk_ to her about the Order. Why he’d gone after her. _My parents were killed by someone seeking harmony and protection and law_.

He had felt foolish then. He felt _angry_ now. “Whatever _their_ sins were, they had _nothing_ to do with Chandra. Is she impulsive? Sure. I’d be stupid not to say that. But her heart’s the size of the moon.”

The heart-stopping smile, the one she showed him only once or twice. The way she’d cared for her people on Regatha. How hard she _tried_ to be more than she already was. Gideon had thought he’d only resigned himself to her faults, to her outbursts and her temper and her tendency to act before she thought.

But she wouldn’t be Chandra without those things, and he knew without hesitation that Chandra was worth protecting. Worth everything, despite the ‘risks’ of having her around. So Baan’s, “Pyromancers have precipitated…terrible tragedies,” just wasn’t going to make a dent.

“So have you outlawed _matches_?”

“May I assume, based upon your reactions, that Miss Nalaar never spoke to you of this?”

Gideon took a moment to reply. He felt like Nissa, lost in some other place than this one. A prison cell, like and unlike the one he’d lived in for so long. (Once you’ve been in one prison, you’ve been in all of them. Drasus used to say that.) Chandra, with her arms curled around herself, not brash or loud or angry. Just scared.

How much he would have given to be the one who took that fear away. But she rescued herself, in the end. Could he really argue with Baan, after seeing what Chandra had done with the Purifying Fire?

“No,” he said, too late to be convincing. “Not a word.”

“She didn’t confide in _any_ of us,” Jace said from across the table.

“That was her choice to make. Not ours,” Nissa ran a finger down her bowl, watching the half-eaten salad with preternatural concentration. “We all have scars we don’t want others to touch.”

His heart ached for them, all of them, the Gatewatch. Even (though his insides curled up at the thought) Liliana. They had already done the impossible. Twice. And he would have said it was worth it, every time, to see Innistrad and Zendikar still standing. Like the planeswalkers who’d defended them, the worlds were broken in ways no one really understood. But they could piece themselves together again.

He had to believe that.

“Surely she would not be so rash as to depart for Kaladesh.” Baan’s voice was blankly curious, as it had been since he set foot in the library.

Gideon immediately looked up, to find Jace thinking the same thing he was. Chandra, especially with the necromancer goading her on, would be _exactly_ that rash. They stood in the same moment, all tensions forgotten.

“I’ll head to Kaladesh. It should be easy for me to–“ Jace was already running for his cloak, his mind twisting the problem around like a puzzle. Gideon admired that about him, but it wasn’t what Ravnica needed right now.

Lavinia stood between Jace and the door, a hand on the pommel of her sword. She glared at Jace with a strength that had deterred even Liliana. “One of them can find Monk Nalaar. They can’t be the Guildpact.”

Jace had taken on responsibilities, and he couldn’t put them down whenever he liked. “She’s not wrong,” Gideon told him, reaching out to put a hand on Jace’s shoulder. At least there his gesture wasn’t misplaced – Jace always got a funny look on his face, though, a tilt to his head and a sideways smile, like he couldn’t quite believe Gideon would touch him like that. “Think of the bigger picture, Jace. I can take this one.”

_I found her before. Every time._

“I’ll go.” Nissa spoke up, her voice stronger than it had been. More confident. Gideon turned to her.

“Are you sure?” Was it that Nissa needed some time off of Ravnica, or that she needed time off from the Gatewatch? She hadn’t recovered from imprisoning Emakrul, not as he’d like. “Nissa, you don’t have to go alone.”

“I _will_ go to Kaladesh.” Nissa curled her delicate hands into fists, and if Gideon doubted her strength, he couldn’t doubt her determination. “Baan can guide me. I’ll…” Nissa almost smiled, blood coming back into her cheeks. Her ears stood higher, her eyes brighter. “I’ll stand with her.”

He couldn’t ask for more than that.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm loving all these links at the bottom of the weekly story page, so here's my contribution!
> 
> [Jace Beleren - Planeswalker](http://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planeswalkers/jace-beleren)  
> [Gideon Jura - Planeswalker](http://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planeswalkers/gideon-jura)  
> [Chandra Nalaar - Planeswalker](http://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planeswalkers/chandra-nalaar)  
> [Nissa Revane - Planeswalker](http://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planeswalkers/nissa-revane)  
> [Dovin Baan - Planeswalker](http://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planeswalkers/dovin-baan)  
> [Kaladesh story archive](http://magic.wizards.com/en/content/kaladesh-story)  
> you can find a link to the original story, where this is from, up above in the summary!


End file.
